To register for SUGAR^® training and certification, click here. For more information, please scroll down.

Click here to register for SUGAR^® training and certification.

SUGAR^® Certification Training  (with Licensure)

Since its introduction in 2013, Bitten Jonsson has been the sole provider of certification training that teaches healthcare professionals of all types how to effectively use the powerful, diagnostic tool known as SUGAR^®. Today, there are scores of SUGAR^® certified and licensed professionals across the globe. Countless more are needed, however, to battle the growing onslaught of sugar and carb addiction in today’s ultra-processed food environment. You can join us and become one of those much-needed professionals!

The acronym SUGAR^® stands for Sugar Use General Assessment Recording.
SUGAR^® is the first and only diagnostic instrument specifically dedicated to assessing addiction/pathological use of sugar, carbohydrates (such as flour), and other processed foods.

With nearly four decades of specialized experience in sugar/carb addiction treatment, Bitten Jonsson trains professionals on the nature of this complex disease. This certification course includes all of the topics necessary for professionals to capably assess sugar/carb addiction with the SUGAR^® diagnostic instrument and make informed treatment recommendations.

This simple tool transforms people’s lives.

The SUGAR^® evaluation tool for sugar and carb addiction has proven to be extremely effective in breaking through denial and motivating clients. It serves as a basis for treatment planning and is based on ICD-10/ICD-11 and DSM-5 addiction criteria. SUGAR^® certification training is now offered as a stand-alone class that perfectly complements the Holistic Medicine for Addiction^® (HMA^®) certification.

SUGAR-adolescent^® is currently being developed and will be available in the near future.

What is SUGAR^®?

• • SUGAR^® is a comprehensive, diagnostic assessment tool (administered as a structured interview) that examines a client’s relationship with sugar, flour, processed food, and its related consequences.
  • Prior to the development of SUGAR^®, there was no comprehensive diagnostic evaluation instrument available for ”food addiction”, although a number of screening tools do exist such as UNCOPE/S, Yale scale, different self-assessment questionnaires, etc.
  • SUGAR^® is based on the diagnostic criteria for harmful use, pathological use, and addiction to mind-altering (psychoactive) drugs as described in the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) from WHO, and DSM-5 from APA and is currently being upgraded to ICD-11.
    
  • SUGAR^® is a tool that accurately distinguishes between ”pathological” (addictive) use and “harmful use” (such as stress eating or emotional eating by a person who is experiencing damaging consequences but isn’t chemically addicted). This distinction is vital in identifying appropriate treatment. Those two very different conditions have very different treatment protocols. Addiction to sugar, flour, and/or processed food is a chronic, complex and serious disease requiring a treatment model of abstinence. ”Harmful use,” on the other hand, can sometimes be remedied with a treatment model of moderation.
  • Embedded in the tool is screening for Addiction Interaction Disorder (AID). This important screening addresses the need to understand addiction as one illness with many outlets, such as alcohol, subscription pills, and recreational drugs.
  • Each SUGAR^® assessment includes an addiction development curve which shows the client’s relationship with sugar/flour/food from the beginning of the harmful use, to the present. This is the best motivational tool available for addicted people today. It has proven to be quite successful in increasing client motivation and compliance with recovery treatment protocols.

Who is SUGAR^® training for?

SUGAR^® training is for professionals who work with people who may have developed a problematic relationship (or even a chemical dependence upon) sugar, flour, and/or processed food. The purpose of the training is to learn how to use the SUGAR^® diagnostic instrument which is based on internationally approved criteria for dependence according to diagnostic criteria of the DSM-5, and ICD-11 for harmful use and addiction.

After the training, you will be able to:

• • Analyze and compile the information collected from SUGAR^® assessments in an organized and easily understood way, based on the diagnostic criteria and your knowledge about addiction medicine.
  • Present your assessment to any client, or to the referral organization, in a therapeutic, non-confrontational manner that provides a safe space for clients to begin their recovery.
  • Assist clients in gaining deep insight and knowledge into their problems.
  • Assist clients in breaking through denial and gaining insight into how to receive help.
  • Direct clients to appropriate treatment sources.

Only practitioners/professionals certified and licensed in SUGAR^® are authorized to use this diagnostic assessment tool. Authorization for this tool requires completion of the SUGAR^® certification/licensure course and continuing licensure afterward.

Here’s what SUGAR^® co-developer Börje Dahl has to say about it:

”In using SUGAR^®, we ask our patients to give us permission to be invited into their lives, to share their experiences, and to learn about how a psychoactive substance has captured their being. This process creates an alliance between us, increasing the interviewee’s willingness to change and decreasing the level of shame that loss of control has caused them. In short, SUGAR^® is a stepping stone to a new life.”
— Börje Dahl, CEO,  Dahl and Dahl

Cost of SUGAR^® Certification Training & Licensure:

The total cost for SUGAR^® Certification Training is currently $3,475 (USD). That total price includes your first year of SUGAR^® Licensure at a 50% discount! (Please note that SUGAR^® Certification Training is billed separately from SUGAR^® Licensure, as detailed below.) Payment plans are available.

The total cost is billed via two separate invoices:
1)  SUGAR^® Certification Training = $3,213 (USD) – invoiced by Bitten’s Addiction.
2)  Annual SUGAR^® Licensure fee of $592 (USD) minus 50% first-year discount = $262 (USD) – invoiced separately by Dahl and Dahl.
Total discounted cost:  $3,475 (USD)

Save 15% with full payment in advance. Enjoy an additional 20% discount for taking both HMA^® and SUGAR^® certification courses within 12 months.  Click here to register for SUGAR^® Training and Certification.

When to begin:

Registrations are accepted year-round for this ongoing course. Training is completed at your own pace — often in just three months.

Click here to register for SUGAR^® Training and Certification.

If you have additional questions, please click here to contact Bitten Jonsson.